So, you know that 13-year-old fashion blogger who's caused a big splash? Apparently she wore a big hat to a couture show, and all these bitchy fashion editors started tweeting about it in a back-stabby way. Way to be the adults there, guys.

Speaking of the couture shows, did you see any of the Dior images? I died over the cool equestrienne/dominatrix thing Monsieur Galliano had going on. (See above!)

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the need to ban the dictionary in schools. Do they think kids have nothing better to do than to look up random words until they find something "inappropriate"? We have the internet now, they can find porn in less than 3 seconds. Why use a dictionary?

Kids think farts are hilarious and find the word 'bra' shocking. The parent who thought that one word was not okay for the eyes of their child is indeed an idiot - shame on the school district for bending to the whims of a fool. That any young person regardless of age would spend a single moment reading the dictionary would be a blessing.

Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn, and I certainly don't want to offend, but I got the idea from the article about the dictionary being banned that the parents were concerned that the dictionary in question was collegiate level, and thus had more mature "themes" shall we say, and these kids were 4th and 5th graders?

I have little kids and I sure am teaching them the correct words for body parts... but I guess I'd be concerned too if my 4th or 5th grader was able to find detailed information about sexual practices. At least with the internet there are safety protocols that most school utilize that limit what kids can see. (And at my older kid's school I'm actually allowed to choose if they use the internet at school).

Thanks for the warning about the dictionary: the one in the picture is the one I use in my office :-)BTW, I enjoyed the video on lipstick... ended buying one from MAC last week, and had a make-up training yesterday (we have had a MAC downtown for several years, but I never dared to go in until I read your blog) :-)

I couldn't agree more over the bra sizing thing! At 38 I know what I need. I live overseas and am a little out of touch, so I found the Campbells soup add particularly shocking. I've just lost some weight after my second child, and I would consider 310 calories a light lunch. 80 calories is a light snack, even for someone trying to lose weight!

To claim that the dictionary in question was age inappropriate because it has "collegiate" in the title is absurd. Most scholars would agree that a collegiate level dictionary is simply a more comprehensive, complete collection of words that are used in the American lexicon. To deny children access to it by claiming it is age inappropriate indicates you find words such as vituperate, cogent, diatribe, pleonastic, troglodyte, philistine, and tautological also inappropriate for their fragile young minds. The reality is that kids learn about sex in a lot of places, and it is not their classroom or the dictionary that sits within it. The first time I ever heard the term "blow job" was on the playground at recess in the 5th grade, and I had to ask someone to explain to me what it was. Upon learning the definition, my first reaction was "yuk, why would anyone do that" and I promptly wandered back to my game of kickball.

People need to realize that sheltering children from anything and everything that anyone can deem offensive or inappropriate leads to mainstream censorship at an increasingly dangerous level. After all, Catcher in the Rye was banned because of the inclusion of the "F" word, despite it being a powerful and prolific piece of literature that is integral to modern American society.

I don't mean to hijack this thread (the Dior line from Galliano is absolutely gorgeous) but as a former teacher I have to speak up on behalf of the schools. I taught earth science and there were people who found it offensive that we had an entire unit on climate change and another on geologic time and The Big Bang. If those people who were offended had their way, my entire curriculum would have consisted of creationism and blanket statements that those satellite images of the receding ice caps were fake.